There is frequently a need for storing and transporting round elongated objects, such gas cylinders, drums, and particularly ‘roll stock’—cylindrical rolls of thin materials such as fabrics, polymer films, nets, paper products, aluminium foils and the like. Typically, roll stock is shipped and stored on pallets in horizontally oriented tiers. To stabilize and support these rolls in their tiers, stacking support structures are employed.
Typically, such support structures are made from cheap wood. Where heavy roll stock is transported using such wooden stacking supports, it has been found that such supports are subject to breakage during lifting and transportation, with an inherent risk of damage to the roll stock. Wooden roll supports have a tendency of splinter, and haulers are at risk from injury. Furthermore, wooden roll supports are not flexible and cannot accommodate rolls of varying diameters. Moreover, they are bulky, wasteful of natural resources, and are not cheap to manufacture. Wooden supports must also be protected from the elements, and, in many instances require treating the wood with pesticides, which of course, increases the unit cost. These supports cannot be stored outdoors in wet weather, since the wood will rot or warp.
Thus there has been a constant desire to replace wooden stacking supports, and numerous patents address this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,732 to Bell, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,196 to Butler, for example, both describe roll support members formed of expanded polystyrene foam. Expanded polystyrene is lightweight and does not produce splinters. However, there are other problems associated with expanded polystyrene roll stock supports, such as their brittleness and poor strength as well as their bulkiness. These supports are easily broken and take up significant storage space when unused.
In an apparent attempt to improve upon the inadequacies of polystyrene foam, U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,314 to Moyer, discloses a roll support structure formed from recyclable papier-mache. Although less brittle than expanded polystyrene and easier to dispose of, since papier-mache disintegrates when wet, such supports cannot be used in humid environments and always must be protected from weather, which is especially difficult while transporting, unless in closed containers. Papier-mache supports must also be fabricated with substantial thickness to support heavy roll stock, and therefore, they are bulky and require a lot of storage space indoors.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,839 to O'Malley, describes nestable cradle supports for stacking roll stock fabricated from polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Such supports are both compact and easily fabricable, and by virtue of their stackability, they are easily transportable. PET is also resistant to the elements allowing these supports to be stored outdoors. The supports described are fabricated as double strips, which may be folded lengthwise. The double strips are used as base supports for a first tier of roll stock and the folded strips for further stacking additional rolls on top of the first tier. The roll stock supports disclosed in this patent, however, have several disadvantages. First of all, PET is not a particularly cheap feedstock polymer. Secondly, the cradles of the support structures are resistant to deformation and each cradle within the support must be sized for the particular roll diameter to be stacked. Such a rigid structure is advantageous for stacking identical rolls such as rolls of fabric, paper or certain films. However, the lack of flexibility of the support structure prevents good stacking of rolls of non-uniform diameter, and adversely affects the stability of the stack thus formed. Furthermore, pallets with stacked roll stocks placed on these supports must generally be banded to keep the rolls from falling out of the stack. Thus, there is still a need for an inexpensive flexible cradle support structure for stacking roll stock, that is weather resistant, recyclable and suitable for stacking rolls with somewhat varying diameters. The present invention is directed to providing such a support.
DE 19908621A discloses rigidly connected cradle supports. The cradles can be come in sections that can be attached to each other.
EP 0706949A1 discloses triangular elastic wedges as supports for loads on palles.